Is a Master's worth it? I'm trying to figure out what I want here. After finishing a computer engineering degree I started a Masters of Engineering, hated the course based aspect of it, and got a job working as an automotive software engineer. I did enjoy it for a few years but then it started to become really repetitive and more about the diagnostic requirements than the actual product. I since switched to a start-up designing white hat hacking hardware. It's cool stuff, and my boss is a really smart professor. I'm just realizing it's going to be a little bit weird attatching myself to something that for the most part, seems pretty much done. It seems like the work that's coming my way isn't really going to be anything too exciting.

I don't really know what I want here. At heart I'm an environmentalist which is why I loved the automotive stuff (the whole point was to make cars more electronic). I'm considering finding a Masters to jump into instead.

I'm not rich, probably about 45k in savings. GPA wasn't super high overall but my last two years of undergrad were really high, I did the bare minimum when I started because I found it all really boring. The last two years was really exciting, I didn't get that.

I want to do more hobbyist electronic stuff but so much of it seems kind of pointless to me and anything really cool costs a lot in equipment.

So much of Academia seems so boring and humiliating, constantly trying to publish and get funding. On the other hand, research seems pretty cosy.